Lawson Craddock (Giant-Alpecin) cut a despondent figure on Thursday after cramping up and crossing the line four minutes back on the first real climbing stage of this year’s Tour de Pologne. One day on, though, the picture is decidedly different.
On the queen stage of the race, the 23-year-old stayed with the top climbers and GC riders across the eight category 1 climbs and ended up beating all but two of them.
“Yesterday [Thursday] was tough. I haven’t raced since Dauphiné and now it’s a month and a half, two months on. I did a lot of training before Poland but didn’t quite have the race fitness, so I knew a 223-kilometre stage, especially with how hard the parcours was, was going to be difficult. It’s been a while since I cramped, and I think just not having the race fitness was a big factor,” Craddock told Cyclingnews after a trip to the podium in Bukowina TatrzaÅ„ska.
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“But I fought through in the end and was able to recover today. I had a lot of help from my team, they fought as long as they could, put me in a good position. I’m just really happy to bounce back and be able to make up for it. In this sport you have to have a short memory so I put yesterday in the past and focused on today and I’m just really glad it worked out.”
Craddock wasn’t just hanging in there; he was clearly feeling good and attacked from the select group over the top of the penultimate climb, dragging Mikel Nieve and Ben Hermans with him and staying clear for a brief period. In the end Sergio Henao crossed the line solo for the win but Craddock still had the legs to take third in what was a hugely encouraging day.
“Obviously, with the finishing climb as hard as it was, I knew it could be tough but I was feeling really good the entire last lap. I was kind of surprised to be with Aru and those guys, and once they slowed down we just wanted to keep the speed up,” said the American.
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